In connection with various industrial or commercial machinery, equipment, or apparatus, it is often critically important that the support legs or other similar support structure provided upon the machinery, equipment, or apparatus are properly adjusted with respect to their elevational levels or vertical dispositions so as not only to properly support the apparatus, machinery, or equipment at the desired elevation or orientation, but in addition, to ensure that the support legs or support structure together define a support arrangement for the machinery, apparatus, or equipment which renders the machinery, apparatus, or equipment truly level. In this manner, proper operation of the machinery, equipment, or apparatus components, without such components encountering operational problems due to the non-level disposition of the machinery, equipment, or apparatus, is ensured.
One known type of vertical adjustment or leveling system comprises the use of, for example, a leg extension which is adapted to be adjustably affixed to a frame member of the machine, equipment, or apparatus. In particular, one of the leg extension or frame member components is provided with a single aperture, and the other one of the leg extension or frame member components is provided with an array or plurality of vertically spaced apertures. A bolt or other suitable fastener is then adapted to be inserted into or extend through the single aperture defined within either the leg extension or the frame member, as well as to be inserted into or extend through a selected one of the plurality of apertures defined within the other one of the leg extension or frame member components so as to affix the leg extension at a particular vertical position with respect to the frame member. The operative disadvantage of such a system, however, is at least twofold.
Firstly, in order to perform a height adjustment of the leg extension, the components of the support system must in effect be disassembled. More particularly, the bolt or other suitable fastener must firstly be removed, the leg extension is then able to be moved or repositioned with respect to the frame member of the machine, equipment, or apparatus, and subsequently, when the leg extension is disposed at the new desired location with respect to the frame member, the bolt or other fastener must then be reinserted into the aligned apertures of the leg extension and the frame member components and retightened so as to in fact securely affix the leg extension and frame member components together. Secondly, in view of the fact that one of the components is provided with the array or plurality of separate, vertically spaced apertures, when the repositioned bolt or other similar fastener is reinserted or repositioned within a particular one of such vertically spaced apertures, it is to be appreciated that the leg extension is not able to be repositioned or relocated with respect to the frame member at any desirable elevational level but, in effect, can only be elevationaly repositioned or adjusted with respect to the frame member in a precisely defined incremental manner as dictated by means of the array of vertically spaced apertures.
Accordingly, a need exists in the machinery, apparatus, or equipment art for a base leveling or leg adjustment system which can readily, easily, and quickly permit leg extension members, of such various machinery, equipment, or apparatus to be repositioned or elevationally adjusted in, in effect, a continuous, infinite manner such that precise leveling or elevational adjustment of such leg extension or leveling systems can in fact be readily, easily, and quickly achieved whereby the machinery, equipment, or apparatus can be properly or truly leveled or oriented as a result of which proper operation of the various operational components of the machinery, apparatus, or equipment will be ensured.